Skip to main content

Maeda and Maina Win 25th Running of the Sendai International Half Marathon

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201505/20150511_14015.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Breaking the event's old record by 349 people, a record-setting 13,932 participants took part in the 25th running of the Sendai International Half Marathon on May 10 in central Sendai, Miyagi.

In the day's main event, the JAAF-certified half marathon division starting and ending at the municipal track and field grounds on the city's south side, defending champion Johana Maina (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) ran 1:02:33 to win the men's race again, his second-straight and third overall Sendai title.  His teammate and 2014 World Half Marathon Championships Japanese national team member Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) was 3rd in 1:03:11, while 2015 World Championships marathoner Masakazu Fujiwara took 6th in 1:03:51.  2014 Asian Games marathon bronze medalist Yuki Kawauchi was 30th.

In the women's race, 2015 World Championships marathoner Sairi Maeda (Team Daihatsu) opened a 46-second lead over 2014 World Half Marathon Championships team member Risa Takenaka to win in 1:10:24.  Maeda's Beijing teammate Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) was a distant 3rd in 1:13:26.  Three-time men's wheelchair champion Masayuki Higuchi (Baristride) picked up a fourth title in 47:46.

25th Sendai International Half Marathon
Sendai, Miyagi, 5/10/15
click here for complete results

Men
1. Johana Maina (Kenya/Fujitsu) - 1:02:33
2. Ezekiel Chebotitin (Kenya/Toho Refine) - 1:02:34
3. Sota Hoshi (Fujitsu) - 1:03:11
4. Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA) - 1:03:21
5. Hiroaki Sano (Honda) - 1:03:41
6. Masakazu Fujiwara (Honda) - 1:03:51
-----
30. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:08:36

Women
1. Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu) - 1:10:24
2. Risa Takenaka (Shiseido) - 1:11:10
3. Risa Shigetomo (Tenmaya) - 1:13:26
4. Yui Okada (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:13:55
5. Fumiko Hashimoto (Shimamura) - 1:15:26
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
It was 20C and sunny, so even higher? - a bit warm for a half - and windy, but all in all a good day to run. Really nice race through the streets of Sendai, a very green city.
May 11, 2015 at 6:54 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more